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From Protests To Riots - Politics - Nairaland

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From Protests To Riots by GARRIYELLOW: 2:54pm On Oct 21, 2020
FROM PROTESTS TO RIOTS...
Because these protests have no leaders, a resort to violence by protesters will lead to anarchy. And in a state of anarchy, the original protesters – that upwardly mobile emergent class of tech savvy, globally connected youths – will be the greatest victims. For it is those who can smash car windows, set businesses on fire and push daggers into the mouths of hapless policemen who will thrive. And they will not be tele-guided by those of us on social media. I tell you, this will not be progress.
Progress is to refuse to take the bait to turn this into a Law and Order issue. Today is not the day to go toe to toe with the State security machinery. Because the movement itself is still fragile, not properly under the control of those who sparked it, deeply vulnerable to hijack, its members not yet seamlessly bonded together enough to survive these age-old tactics of divide-and-rule them on lines of ethnicity, region and religion. You do not go to war with an army in such a state.
And I tell you it is not even the time or place for war. It is the enemy goading you onto a battlefield in which it holds all the high ground. There is now enough destructive violence – both sponsored and spontaneous – on the streets to justify the presence of Force. The narrative has already been floated of the protests being nothing but a front for political interests pushing for regime change. The escalation of protesters demands from #endsars to endBuhari has been cited as evidence. And the constitutional argument deployed that an elected government must not be brought down by violent protest.
It is a chess game with high stakes, and you should not walk with your eyes open into a cul-de-sac. This is the time for cool heads. For many of the lives and livelihoods we destroy in vengeance for Lekki will be as innocent, as non-complacent, as the lives we lost there. Like this, we will lose the moral high ground. I tell you, it is anger misdirected. If we had the discipline, we should mourn our fallen with streets that suddenly fall eerily silent and empty. Graffiti should appear on our walls, dripping red, bearing their names. Songs, poems and viral hashtags. And the week after – or two weeks after, a month after, or two months after… Yes, after whatever period of time has passed they think sufficient to lull us back into the customary forgetfulness – we march again, peacefully, on one day, all together, in one place, demanding nothing but justice for the victims of State brutality. Like this to make this peaceful protest a recurring decimal. Turn it into our national day of mourning – 20/10/2020 – every year, to call their names, victims and perpetrators, that it may forever remain an albatross around the necks of those who made it so, a testament to our resolve to build a State that protects its citizens from terrorism, not one that attempts to control them with it.
And your anger? Like blinded Samson, place your hands against the pillars that actually hold up the building. You are chasing shadows and puppets in the streets, I tell you. If your desire for Better Governance cannot translate into a political movement effective enough to win the Presidency, at least two-thirds of the States, and an equal proportion of seats in the Federal Legislature – then, at the end of the day, you will march kilometres in the blood of protest, but gain not half an inch. Nigeria is well versed in the art of disillusioning the young and idealistic. Lose the naivety fast. Fill your lungs with stamina. And learn to, no matter the provocation, only fight the battles of your own choosing.

Dike Chukwumerije
Re: From Protests To Riots by Nobody: 2:55pm On Oct 21, 2020
The killings of Nigerian protesters is too much, please stay at home if you can, I don't want to loss any Nairalander...
And any one that posts business advert/rubbish on his/her WhatsApp status should be blocked and deleted, Nigeria is bleeding, post our current situation instead sad...
Nigeria was not good before, and it's getting worse now sad
Those police men can't face BokoHaram, but they find fun in wasting innocent blood of the Nigeria youths...
War may start soon, beware!!!...
STAY SAFE is not all about Coronavirus, it's also about being protected from our own Security system sad...
Oh God, hear our prayers and save us sad
#endSars #endBadGovernment

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none / . / My Heart Goes Out To All The Victims Of The Lekki Shootings – VP Yemi Osinbajo

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